A blog about play-based learning and an approach to teaching mathematics that I call the Number Agents. This approach uses Mantle of the Expert to create an imagined company. It is the most successful way I have found to teach maths!

Learning Through Play

Ingredients of my play based room - this is expanded on in my short book The Power of Play.**An excerpt from the bookOver time my new entrant
room has evolved into a play-based classroom, number agency fits beautifully
into this context.If you have ever
observed a child ‘playing’ without gadgets, without all the bells and whistles
that today’s society offers them, you will have noticed the power of their
imagination.They need no equipment to
make a game; in their mind they can hold a world that they are imagining. A child’s
imagination is so strong that they can share this world, agree on its details
and then play within it.

As a child I remember
playing, all on my own, but not alone. I created characters around me that I
could talk to fight with and against, explore worlds with, and embark on great
journeys with.Books like The Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton helped
my imagination along.I would imagine my
swing could take me to imagined worlds; worlds I would often go to, each with their
own specific characters, each world perfectly cemented in my mind for my next
adventure there.This shows the power of
a child’s mind; children can interact in several different imagined worlds,
while knowing it is imagined, but pretending it is real.How amazing is that!

Sadly with the advent of
technology (and I acknowledge I am a big user of that same technology), we
don’t witness or allow children the opportunity to play in this way
anymore.But they still have the ability
to do so; take away the gadgets for a little while and watch the power of
imagination come to the fore!In fact we
have just gone device-free in our new entrant room and the result has been
outstanding.The children are learning
to play together, to create and imagine, to share and to talk to each other in
ways that never happened when we had devices in the room.We still use devices to create and
communicate our learning, but they are not freely available to consume in the
classroom.

This is what I wanted to
tap into in my classroom; to bring imaginary play back in a big way to enhance
their learning in mathematics.There are
other ways I have brought play back into my classroom, but in this book I want
to focus on maths.

I believe that by learning
through play children get a
number of crucial benefits that assist their cognitive and social development.

I also have a play-based learning book called the Power of Play. This can be purchased here.

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My Thoughts

This blog is a reflection of my thoughts. It is not in published form and is based on my opinion and discoveries. Blog posts may contain spelling and grammar errors as they have not been formally edited. Basically this blog is my thoughts in written form :) I hope the posts are of some use to you. Teaching mathematics and play-based learning along with Mantle of the Expert are among my teaching passions. I am also against National Standards and any sort of education system that supports a testing culture, that will probably come through quite clearly in my posts. :) Have a super day!

Leslee Allen

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Number Agents - Order PDF Of Book Here

$20 from the TPT Store

My Journey Into Play

My 2nd book about my journey

The Power Of Play - Purchase the PDF here $8 from TPT

My journey into play-based learning so far...

Email Me

numberagents@gmail.com

Hard copy of book $26.50 for book and postage within NZ . I will post out of NZ, please contact me so I can sort postage cost.

Alternatively you can purchase a PDF copy of the book from teachers pay teachers.

Face book Page

-Click here for my face book page

Number Agents

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Number Agents

This blog has been created as another resource for those interested in this teaching approach. It is based on my short book 'Number Agents' and reflects my day to day learning about this process.

About Me

I have been teaching for 20 years now and have a passion for learning through play and drama. The Mantle of the Expert approach transformed my teaching and continues to do so. Number agents has its roots in Mantle of the Expert, but has now become a teaching approach in its own right! I have been a teaching principal for the last ten years and live in Northland New Zealand with my husband and two teenage children.
The book is $20 plus $6.50 for postage within NZ.